November 30, 2011

November 28, 2011

The wedding reception at my house in Terengganu happened last Saturday and the crowd who came were more than my parents estimated... Mom and dad thought that less people would come since it's the raining season and it has been pouring for days... However, people kept on coming from afternoon til night...

I was a bit sad to see non of my friends from school came but serves me right for not being a good friend... I've kinda lost contact with all of them since I spent most of my time before this being in Melaka... Now that I'm staying in Terengganu, I'll make sure to reconnect with them and also to keep the bond I have with my friends in Melaka...

Anyway, what cheered me up the most on that day was the arrival of my best friend Ridhwan! He came!! and he brought Epul (the human GPS) and Cedric with him... Thanks guys for coming :-) I appreciate it... and I know u guys appreciated the free meal :-P

I owe it big time to mom and dad for making most of the preparations for the reception... They started preparing months ago... They took care of the invitation cards and delivered them to friends and relatives, they book the tent for the day, they bought the cows, they did everything... I love them so much and I feel so lucky to have such loving and supporting parents...

On the day of the reception, two cows were brought down and cooked... With the help of my family members and close neighbors, the gulai daging, acar timun, ayam goreng, bubur barli dan jagung, kerabu perut and air sirap were made just in time and they were awesomely yummy... The bubur was a hit...

The reception was referred as Majlis Menyambut Menantu and so, most of the guest (especially the women) wanted to see and get to know the bride... Mom set up a meeting place for them to do that and it's sort of a pelamin... At this meeting place, the bride waited for the guest to come and greeted them... During the reception at her place, my wifey walked around and greeted the guest but for this one, she was required to sit down and the guest would come to her... It's indeed a new experience for her (and for me also...)

The ceremony was beautiful and I would like to thank everyone who came and helped... Thank u dear family members especially mom and dad... Thank u dear friends... Thank u helpful neighbors... Pray that our marriage would last until death tear us apart :-)

King Hyperion (Mickey Rourke) declared war on all mankind and wanted to challenge the Gods by releasing the Titans from their eternal prison... For him to succeed, he needed the Epirus Bow - a very powerful weapon forged by the God of War, Ares... In his quest to search for the bow, he had spread terror upon earth, torturing and killing everyone who dared to stand up against him... The Gods could not do anything about it for any attempt to help the humans would bring rage upon the King of Olympus, Zeus (Luke Evans) and death was the only punishment... Therefore, they could only rely Theseus (Henry Cavill), a peasant who was secretly trained by Zeus, to stop Hyperion from bringing chaos on earth as well as Olympus...

THE PLUS POINTS

Henry Cavill

Henry Cavill did an awesome job acting as Theseus... He has the looks, the spirit and charisma of a warrior... Every action move he delivered was extremely smooth and enjoyable to watch, especially during the final brawl with Hyperion... I loved the scene when he tried to save his mother from being slain - the part where he threw the spear was great... He also successfully portrayed plenty of emotions - pain, anger, suffering, rage... However, it's a shame that he was given so little material to exploit for the betterment for the character and the whole movie... I shall elaborate on that later...

Special Effects

The special effects were so grand... I enjoyed the last battle between the Gods and the released Titans very much for the action sequences were great because of special effects, unique choreography and effective use of slow motion... I loved the way they made the fallen Gods and Titans move slower than the ones who were more superior in battle...

Action

Because this movie was from the producers of 300, of course I would anticipate plenty of epic clashes of swords, spears, shields and arrows... The action scenes were plenty and damn they're bad-ass... The war in the tunnel of the thick fortress towards the end was nerve wrecking... Of course, making them more bad-ass was the special effects...

The Portrayal of the Gods

I loved the way they portray the Greek Gods because they looked extremely powerful and colossal... I loved the part when Zeus appeared in anger when Ares and Athena intervene by helping Theseus... I could feel the God's rage... The Gods were so powerful, they moved at a different speed from the humans... Swoosh there... Sweesh here...

I also loved their costumes, especially the head gears... Ares' head gear was the one that stand out the most, fitting him as the God of War... Too bad he couldn't join the last fight for he was dead, punished by Zeus...

THE MINUS POINTS

The Portrayal Theseus

I mentioned that Henry Cavill had so little material to work on and that was because Theseus was not given a proper portrayal... From my pass reading, I saw Theseus as a very smart and cunning warrior with great combat skills... However, in this movie, the only emphasis was his great instinct in battle and not his wits... I often found him being trapped and fallen making him less of a hero...

Though I love the part when he persuaded the army to stay and fight... The speech, the banging of swords against the shields, the march... Oooohhhh, if I could scream in the cinema, I would go YEAHHHHH!!!

Actually, all of the characters were given little materials to work on except for Hyperion... Freida Pinto as the Oracle should be given more emphasis on her gifts and strengths as a powerful woman...

The Pace

There was something wrong with the pace... It felt rushed... That's why most characters didn't have the chance to develop more... This is maybe the result of lack of financial support from the production crew... They gave focus on the awesome special effects so much that they neglected the 'heart' of the movie...

The Script

The script was not powerful enough to leave a mark in my heart... It didn't generate the powerful emotion stir with me... An example of a awesome script is the one in the movie 300... The speeches were plenty through out the movie and they're always inspirational, giving the audience the boost of emotion stir... The language used in 300 was also appropriate and more artsy...

The Picture

This movie was dim... It was deliberately made that way to give the audience the epic and ancient feel... However, I felt that it was too dim that it blocked the details of the movie... Sometimes I had to squint to have a better look... Or maybe it was just me...

Censorship

It was okey for them to censor the boobs... but to cut the fighting scenes?? COME ON!!!! What, it was too gore for Malaysians?? COME ON!!!!!!!!!!!

ALL IN ALL

The strengths of this movie are the powerful special effects and also great action sequences... Other elements such as character development, script, pacing need improvements... All in all, I say that this movie was just okey... Actually, it depends on what movie u want to compare it with... If u compare it with 300, then u would most probably dislike it... Whereas, if u compare it with the new Clash of the Titans, then u would most probably love it because in the Immortals, there are actually Titans clashing...

There, the words do appear simple but saying it in one breath was like the hardest thing on earth to do at that moment because of the pressure... What kind of pressure u ask? Guys, u'll know when u get there... The pressure to not screw it up, the pressure from the full of anticipation crowd, the pressure from tok kadi and etc... No wonder there are so many who couldn't do it just once...

Nonetheless, I did it... Only once... Like a boss... Owh yeah~

The most fearful thing for the groom is of course, the questions from the tok kadi... Before the akad, after the khutbah had been read and a short briefing from the tok kadi, finally the questions were asked...

"Apakah rukun nikah?"

"Apakah rukun iman?"

"Apakah rukun Islam?"

Three simple questions... It was all good for me because I had memorized all of the answers... My friends asked me to and I'm so thankful for that... Though I did stutter a bit because I was extremely nervous... My cousin told me that I looked pale at that time...

Actually, it's up to the tok kadi to whether to ask questions or not and what questions to give to the groom... Some of them don't ask questions and prefer to go straight to the akad... Whereas, some prefer to give so much questions just to confirm that the groom is truly Muslim... My friend told me that in the state of Johor, the tok kadi will ask questions or interview the bride and groom during the registration for kahwin... So, Johor friends, better be prepared before u send in the registration forms...

After the akad, came the "Upacara Membatalkan Air Sembahyang"... This is the part when the groom put the wedding ring and/or bracelet onto the bride's finger or wrist... It was really really awkward for me and my wifey because everyone's watching at that time... I came to her and gave salam, "Assalammualaikum...", put on the bracelet and wedding ring and lastly kissed her on the forehead...

THE WEDDING RECEPTION (12.11.11)

The next day was the wedding reception at my wifey's house in Balakong, Cheras... When I woke up that morning, I still couldn't believe that I'm finally married... It felt like it was all a dream... A really sweet dream... I told myself, "A really huge step has been taken... Now to conquer the rest of the challenges... We're doing this together..."

I was wonderfully happy to see most of my friends there... Being surrounded by most of my wifey's family members who I've just met once or twice was a bit awkward, so it felt so good to see familiar faces... We laughed and hugged and took pictures... This is why close friends and family members must come to weddings... Without them, the bride and groom could feel a bit lonely... Thank u so much for coming guys... I really really appreciate it... :-)

Being the center of attention, all camera lenses and flashes were directed on us... Yeap, I have so many pictures posted on my Facebook wall... Soon, I myself shall upload more photos... Need to wait for the photographer to finish editing them...

The ceremony was so beautiful and I love my family members and my friends so much... Thanks again for those who helped making it happen and those who came to celebrate... The reception at my place at Terengganu will be on the 26th of November... Be sure to come guys :-)

November 2, 2011

November 1, 2011

I was lining up at Melaka Sentral's Cool Blog stall to buy me a cup of chocolate milk tea... In front of me was a couple - the guy was wearing a trucker cap which was much bigger than the size of his head, a black polo shirt and black shorts while the girl wore tudung (hijab), a very tight tank top (it was so tight, all her flabs couldn't be more obvious), and jeans... From the way they look and act, I could guess that they're still in high school...

Anyway, the one who wanted to buy some beverages were the girl because she was the only one who studied the menu and it took her forever to decide what to get... Whereas, the guy never paid attention to anything accept the girl's ass... Yeap... He was shamelessly grabbing the girl's back like I and about 3 to 4 other people lining behind them were never there...

Subtly, he started by putting his right hand on the girl's back... Then, his palm slowly made its way down to the waist and parked on the one of her butt cheeks...

It was painful to see...

I deliberately coughed as loud as I could, signalling him that I was very uncomfortable with his action... He reacted by placing his hand into her jeans' pocket... It was really a struggle for him to get inside the pocket because damn those jeans were tight... Slut...

"Cepat la pilih apa kau nak dan berambus! Aku dahaga dan meluat nih!", I screamed inside... Now I know how uncool it is to overdo this PDA thing... In case u didn't know, PDA stands for Public Display of Affection...

I hate online PDA... Though I never unfriended anyone on Facebook who I truly know or met, I did unsubcribe to a number of people's status updates because they tend to get all mushy and lovey dovey on their walls all the time...

"Owh sayang, aku merinduimu bagai musang merindui bulan..."

Urgk... These kind of messages should only be sent through text messages or private messages... and apa kaitan musang dan bulan??

However, real life PDA is definitely worse... Come on, get a room la...